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1. I'm 68 and have been thinking about these questions a lot as well as scanning my output a lot for signs of deterioration.
2. My cognitive functions (when thinking and/or writing about my main academic specializations) have changed over the past 10 y or so, assuming that I can evaluate the changes ~independently.
3. I don't think I've experienced noticeable memory, vocabulary, or reasoning changes.
4. Verbal fluency has changed not so much in the sense that the word(s) is not in my conscious&aware brain but in the sense that I think it takes longer for the word to be pulled out of its file and translated into speech. I think this must be a problem with some aspects of motor function since I don't use a keyboard efficiently any longer. Plaques could, of course, be the cause of the deteriorations I've described...unpleasant thought.
5. I guess #4 is directly related to deterioration in my ability to organize a project in my brain. It's not that I don't know what I want to say or, even, how I want to organize it all, but the process of getting there takes much longer and is not as automatic as it once was. Again, I'm pretty certain that the seriousness of this deficit depends on topic.
6. I realize that N= 1 + opinion is not reliable; however, this is a "hot" topic for me, and the thought of an inevitable (?) "tipping point" is not pleasant.
7. IMO Eliot Tucker-Drob UT Austin has some very neat data on related topics. The two graphs displayed on his lab page are, by way of thinking about it, compelling.
Free-living songbirds show increased stress hormone levels when nesting under white street lights. But different light spectra may have different physiological effects as this study finds, suggesting that using street lights with specific colour spectra may mitigate effects of light pollution on wildlife
Scientists identify the condition aphantasia, in which people cannot create images in their head
The dust in our homes contains an average of 9,000 different types of fungi and bacteria, a study suggests.
A mosquito can bear up to 23 times its total body weight on each leg, which is crucial for landing on water – the insect's secret is way it stands
Tropical species with smaller geographical ranges are more likely to die out in a warming climate than those that can adapt by ‘invading’ new regions
Most people think of bacteria as germs, signs of filth, or unwanted bringers of disease. Slowly, that view …
The gloomy octopuses crowded at Jervis Bay, Australia, appear to spit and throw debris such as shell at each other in what could be an intentional use of weapons
Therapies based on hormones that make us more trusting enhance our natural placebo effect – a finding that could alter the way clinical trials are conducted
The blind, hairless babies born recently at Washington D.C.'s National Zoo are completely dependent on their mothers—who can sometimes accidentally crush them.
The poop-hoarding insects have an amazingly advanced internal GPS that allows them to navigate by day or night.
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